Rating: WORTHY!
Not to be confused with Lost in the Labyrinth by LA Peacock and Nathan Hale (yes, there really is a Nathan Hale), this one is by Patrice Kindl. Now how often do you get to read a Kindl on your Kindle? Not me, actually, since this was a print book! This is based on a myth that is the intersection of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner!
The story centers not around Ariadne, but around "Princess" (the Greek kings didn’t actually refer to their daughters as princesses any more than the the Powhatan people called Matoaka a princess!) Xenodice, although the younger princess in the myth is actually named Phaedra. She was the one who married Theseus, according to mythology (fell in love with Hippolytus), but then mythology is abysmally twisted and incestuous (in many ways). Xenodice's parents were King Minos and Queen Pasiphae. Ariadne is an older sister, who in this modern retelling is a bit of a bitch.
The young prince's name is Asterius, but unfortunately, he's half-man and half-bull, and is forced to live in the inescapable Labyrinth, right at its center. Xenodice nevertheless loves her brother and takes care of him. How she finds her way in and out is a bit of a mystery, but the trick to escaping any labyrinth is to keep one hand on a wall - left or right, it doesn't matter, and walk with your hand tracing that wall. This will get you out no matter how complex the labyrinth, but the method may take some time, and may lead you to the center before it leads you back out. Leaving a thread behind you is a risky way to go. Any Greek philosopher ought to know this. You can't have an unreliable thread holding a sword over Damocles, and then claim that same limp thread will solidly serve Theseus in the Labyrinth! Let's have some consistency, please!
Xenodice (which actually sounds like a new kind of gaming device) is also in love with Icarus, son of Daedelus. Prior to this tale beginning, according to the myth, there was a games, which a son of Minos attended, and did so well that jealous rivals killed him. Nowadays they would just test him for drugs and strip him of his titles. Anyway, as a punishment, Minos demanded seven men and seven women from Athens, every few years in tribute. These tributes were sent into the Hunger Games. Wait, no, that's the wrong story. These people were sent into the Labyrinth never to be heard from again. What Asterius did with these Athenians isn’t really explained in any detail. Definitely a party dude though.
As usual in these stories, the main character, Xenodice appears to be too old for her age (early teens). This problems tends to stem for the writer not being fourteen. Now you can argue that she was a royal and had thus been raised to be mature and responsible, but then if you do that, you’re stuck in explaining her almost complete lack of emotion when her beloved Icarus gets waxed. He fell into the sea not onto the hard ground? Seriously? The lady doth protest not enough. She can either be an invested royal, which would explain her maturity, or a shallow child, which would explain her slighting of Icarus She can’t be both.
Carping aside, though, I think this was a worthy read and a great introduction to a part of Greek mythology.
